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Bangladesh
The case against kawmi madrasas
2007-05-13
Azfar Aziz
How much longer will it take for our policy-makers to wake up to the reality that the so-called old-scheme -- "kawmi" -- madrasas are as anti-people and anti-social in nature as anti-Islamic in spirit?
May be the governments since 1971 have all along been aware of their reactionary nature but none of them could muster enough moral and political courage or had enough integrity to ban them. But the recent proofs that many of these Kawmi madrasas are hotbeds of al-Qaeda-type, and probably al-Qaeda-linked, "Islamist" militancy gives utmost urgency to abolishing these breeding places of many social, political, economic, security, and religious evils.

Economically, kawmi madrasas are an unwelcome burden on the society as they produce a class of citizens who have no productive skill. The only work they usually do is that of an imam or a muezzin of a mosque, besides presiding over milad mahfils, all in exchange of money. These institutions, often occupying public land and consuming power and water without paying the bills, also run on social charity.
A poor economy like Bangladesh can ill-afford such schools that pay it back with nothing but numerous bigots and clergymen.
A poor economy like Bangladesh can ill-afford such schools that pay it back with nothing but numerous bigots and clergymen, who have no place in an Islamic society as perceived by its founder, Prophet Mohammed. It is in this aspect that kawmi madrasas go against the spirit of Islam. In Mohammed's lifetime and for many years after his death, Islam did not allow priesthood as a profession as it also discouraged monasticism.

In Islam, every Muslim prays, observes other rituals and carries out other religious duties for the sake of Allah alone and in exchange for no earthly gains which tantamount to Shirk or acknowledging something/somebody else as partner to His absolute monopoly on worship. But, as in the case of every other religion, Islamic norms started to degenerate soon after the death of the Prophet. For example, the second Khaliph, Omar Ibn Khattab, prohibited women from taking part in mass prayers, Jamaats, which had been a customary practice during Mohammed's lifetime, on the pretext that the changed social circumstances no more permitted that tradition to continue.

The circumstances changed indeed, and continued to change more and more, and, at one stage, priesthood, though much abhorred by the Prophet who held it as one of the major cause for the degeneration of Christianity, crept into Islam. The original practice was to elect/select the most knowledgeable, honourable and old person among the people gathered to pray to lead the congregation, and, of course, in exchange for nothing.
By Islamic tenets, every Muslim is also bound to earn his/her bread by working, whether as a manual labourer, a farmer, an artisan, a professional, a trader, or a miller. It is because Islam did not want any of its followers to remain unproductive and thus not contributing to the common social good.
By Islamic tenets, every Muslim is also bound to earn his/her bread by working, whether as a manual labourer, a farmer, an artisan, a professional, a trader, or a miller. It is because Islam did not want any of its followers to remain unproductive and thus not contributing to the common social good. That is why it discouraged also Rahbaniat or monasticism, another trait of many older religions.

So, from the point of view of both economics and religion, the unproductive clerical and parasitic life the products of the parasitic Kawmi madrasas live should not be permitted to continue as they are as much contrary to the essence, spirit and norms of the religion they sell unashamedly to the ignorant masses to earn a living as they are to the economic well-being of the nation, especially of the vast majority of its poor people.
The money wasted on these so-called educational institutes and their ill-educated graduates could be better utilised for ensuring healthcare and food security of the poor and the disadvantaged.
The money wasted on these so-called educational institutes and their ill-educated graduates could be better utilised for ensuring healthcare and food security of the poor and the disadvantaged.

Along with the students and graduates, the authorities of these kawmi madrasas and the quarters that have political, financial or other vested interests in them comprise a section of the society who, in keeping with its fanatic and reactionary tradition as was seen during the Liberation War, in recent times has emerged as the main population bank from which the Islamist militants draw their operatives to carry out the most atrocious acts like bombing innocent people to death in an attempt what it claims to establish an Islamic state.

Although the situation in Bangladesh is far different than that in Afghanistan or Iraq, these quasi-Islamist bigots have their own hidden political agenda under the anti-US stance and love for Laden and the late Saddam they preach. They use the kawmi madrasas as their strongholds and ruthlessly use the graduates, students and supporters of these institutions to realise their political ambitions. Recent intelligence reports show that last year's crackdown on the banned JMB has not succeeded in stopping their anti-state and anti-social schemes which have taken new channels, and they have become more alert and cautious and are preparing to pounce upon the nation once again at any opportune time.

Against this background, the people still having a sane mind feel the government should abolish these vice dens called kawmi madrasas, a number of which in Bagmara, Rajshahi had even been used as torture chambers of medieval cruelty, and thus deprive these regrouping militants of their safe havens and recruit banks and, at the same time, deliver the poor nation of an unwanted, and unwarranted, burden. For those who want to study Islamic theology there are plenty of institutions under the Madrasa Education Board which also offer their graduates opportunities to enrol in university or technical courses to acquire some professional skills and thereby become productive and worthy members of the society.

I should reiterate again -- it is high time, may be the last one, to take a bold strategic decision on this issue of utmost national interest, however tough and daring it may seem to be, because the consequence of not doing that may prove disastrous by many more degrees, recovering from which may even be impossible.
Posted by:Fred

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